SiteGround vs HostGator
SiteGround and HostGator compared on measured uptime, response time, pricing and features from our own tests. SiteGround scores higher overall.
By Jennifer T. · Updated
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Verdict
SiteGroundWins overall
Managed-feel shared hosting on Google Cloud with daily backups and staging; the renewals are the price
Newfold's Texas-born cPanel host: four shared tiers on a 36-month term with a free domain, Cloudflare CDN and staging
SiteGround wins 4 of the six sub-scores and comes out ahead overall (8.0 vs 7.4).
How do the scores compare?
SiteGround leads on 4 sub-scores, HostGator on 0. Higher is better.
| SiteGround | HostGator | |
|---|---|---|
| Performance | 8.0 (better) | 7.5 |
| Uptime | 8.5 (better) | 8.0 |
| Support | 8.5 (better) | 7.0 |
| Features | 8.5 (better) | 7.0 |
| Value | 6.5 | 6.5 |
| Ease of use | 8.0 | 8.0 |
Which one is faster and more reliable?
| SiteGround | HostGator | |
|---|---|---|
| Overall score | 8.0 (better) | 7.4 |
| Uptime (published)HostingStep 243 d vs HostingStep 243 d; methods differ | 99.97% | 99.97% |
| Response time (published)HostingStep vs HostingStep; methods differ | 745 ms | 496 ms (better) |
Which one costs less?
On renewal, HostGator is cheaper ($10.99/mo vs $17.99/mo). Intro prices need the listed term.
| SiteGround | HostGator | |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest plan | StartUp | Hatchling |
| Intro price | $2.99/mo (better) | $3.75/mo |
| Renewal price | $17.99/mo | $10.99/mo (better) |
| Required term | 12 months (better) | 36 months |
| Websites | 1 | 10 |
| Storage | 10 GB | 10 GB |
| Money back | 30 days | 30 days |
What does each include?
| SiteGround | HostGator | |
|---|---|---|
| Free domain | First year only; regular renewal fee after that | First year on every plan; $22.99 is deducted from a refund if you cancel within the year |
| Free SSL | Yes | Let's Encrypt, auto-renewed |
| Daily backups | Kept for 30 days; on-demand backups on GrowBig and GoGeek | Not stated |
| CDN | SiteGround CDN on Google Cloud, 170+ edge locations | Not stated |
| Email hosting | Unlimited accounts with webmail and spam protection | Not stated |
| Staging | GrowBig and GoGeek; GoGeek adds Git | WordPress staging site on every plan |
| Free migration | Automatic WordPress migrator on every plan; expert transfer by staff | A free site migration tool is listed on the plan cards; the comparison table on the same page says paid migration is available |
| Caching | Multilevel caching with the Speed Optimizer plugin | Static content caching and object caching on every plan; the feature list names an NGINX caching layer |
| WP-CLI and SSH | Yes | Not stated |
| Fair-use limits | CPU seconds per hour 1,000 / 2,000 / 4,000; inodes 200k / 400k / 600k; 768 MB RAM per process; databases up to 1 GB | Not stated |
| Uptime guarantee | 99.9% per month; 5% of that month's fee as a service-extension credit | The plan page says 99 percent; the terms we read contain no uptime clause or credit schedule |
| Choice of data center | 11 locations on Google Cloud, chosen at signup | Not stated |
| Phone support | No | Baby, Business and Pro; Hatchling is chat only |
| Windows hosting | No | No |
| Backups | Not stated | Weekly courtesy backups, restorable with one click; the terms call them a courtesy, so keep your own |
| Free CDN | Not stated | Cloudflare with Argo routing on every plan |
| SSH and languages | Not stated | SSH, WP-CLI, cron, PHP 8.2, Ruby on Rails, Perl, Python, unlimited MySQL and SFTP users |
| Resource limits | Not stated | No |
| Data center choice | Not stated | No |
| Security | Not stated | Malware scanning, AI-powered detection and removal from Baby up, web application firewall, DDoS protection, DDoS scrub center |
| Not stated | Unlimited POP3 and IMAP mailboxes with SpamAssassin; Pro Email is a paid product after a free trial |
Company facts
| SiteGround | HostGator | |
|---|---|---|
| Control panel | Site Tools (SiteGround's own panel) | cPanel behind the HostGator customer portal |
| Data centers | 11 (better) | 1 |
| Support channels | chat, ticket, knowledge-base | chat, phone, knowledge-base |
| Founded | 2004 | 2002 |